after a trip to Amsterdam a few years ago Adam decided to cut a few bikes up and weld them together to make himself a bakfiet
it sounded like a crazy idea
he did... he rode it for years... since then he has upgraded to this wonderful machineas well as assisting in the creation of the wheel barrow bike

earlier this week was my birthdaymy birthday and the boys' first day of school all in the same weekI was scheduled to work these daysbut had to decline... had to drop the kids off at schooland then... had to celebrate my birthday

my birthday came with no great plansno great plan other than a bike ride in between the standard routine of drop off and pick up of the kidsthe boys were dropped off at school without their bikesas I thought that a post school trip to the pool would be a better ideaafter all... it is the tail end of summer and soon swimming will be less of an option

with the boys at school I headed home and fueled up with a little more coffee than got on the bikesuited up in the DCMTB white and redthrew my leg over the black and red Trek 2.3 road machine
directed the bike down the standard route
the standard road

the ride as not long... the ride was not intense... the ride did not involve the cameraalthough the camera was on my back in my backpack

I rode out Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park out past the Mormon Templeturned around early... did not go to its end... as I was short on time and wanted to get downtown to snap a few snaps and to grab a bite for lunchthen maybe stop by Woven History to visit Mehmet or maybe check to see if my buddy Adam is home

my trajectory took me down the Capital Crescent Trail feeding me into Georgetownoff the multiuse trail I bisected the city and headed straight to Capitol Hill not stopping with the camerathere were cyclists and potential photographs yet I pedaled onwardmy stomach was growlingand I knew I was on a schedule that did not offer too much dilly dallying

this was not a hammer festthis was a causal ride in the park
a casual ride in the park... on the bike path... and on the city streets

across town and then I found myself on The Hill... Capitol Hillat Adam's I was happy to see he was around but was bummed to learn he had already had lunchAdam had a minute so we caught upwe talked bikes and bakfiets... I got a chance to ride his BIG RIG

I snapped a few shots... then threw my leg over this big rig and took a spin up and down the block

short on time we put the bike back and then we left out... I walked my bike as Adam walked his dogjust a few blocks from Adam's house on Capital Hill we heard itwe heard it and we felt itbut we had no clue what it waswe saw the windows shake on the row houses to our side

each of us thought that the roof had collapsed on the old run down row house that was being held up by the two beautiful houses one each sidepeople ran from the building to check to see things from the outside

I did not think it was a terrorist attackI just thought that a house that was in sad shape had finally given init all seemed pretty local to where we wereI saw the windows shake and I heard the noise... it all seemed to have been a right there in front of methen a person walking by said it was an earthquakewhich had me realizing... any house I was looking at would have trembled and shakeI just happened to be looking at that housean earthquake made more sense

hearing this Adam turned back for home to check on his house and familyand I got back on my bike and pointed for home

as I pedaled closer to Capital Hill proper I saw people coming out of the buildings and filling up the sidewalksas I approached Union Station I could hear a voice over a loud speaker, "EVACUATE THE BUILDING"there was no warning not to panicthere was no more instructionjust the plain and simple order to Evacuate the Building

as I got out of the residential area into the business district more and more people filled the sidewalkspeople were not panickedthey gathered as if they were standing on the sidewalk waiting for a parade to pass by

more smiles than panic

I chatted up other cyclists as I rodetrying to piece it togetherenjoying the exchange of where were you? what did you experience? what did you feel?the energy was uniquely positivepeople seemed supportive and united

I stopped a few times and snapped some shots as I rolled across townwhile trying to maintain my momentumthinking that there may be the need to get the boys early from schoolI tried making a call to see that things were okay with my wife lisa but there was no cell service

when home before I could pick up the phone it rangit was the school... a ROBO CALL from the new principaleveryone was fine... school would let out at the regular timeI called lisa on the land line... she too was okay

I scanned the internet for information on what had happenedsure enough... there had been an earthquake just south of Washington DC5.8 or something like thatpretty major for us on the East Coast

an earthquake on my birthday
does that make it a BIRTHQUAKE?

I left out to get the boys a few minutes early
there was a good deal of car chaos
people were in anarchy mode
there was no fluidity to the effort
people illogically blocked the box and inhibited flow.... the 10-15 crosstown drive took roughly 45 minutes

when I got the boys the whole school was a buzz
everyone was quizing everyone on Where they Were and What they experienced?

although I had intended to take the kids the pool
that did not happen
they boys wanted to go the park and I did not want to deal with the post earthquake traffic
so we went to the local park

the boys played as if it business as usual... which is was
then when it reached time to go I decided to alter our trajectory home
stopping at the National Cathedral to check on things
the kids were all talking about how "three of the towers" fell off the Cathedral
I wanted to verify for myself

sure enough... not as dramatic as we had expected
but there was clearly damage to three of the small spires

wow.... a birthday to remember
an earthquake to remember
my first and hopefully my last Birth-Quake!

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About Me

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